The Found One
by reckiewriter
Summary: A young girl is found by the team on the SeaQuest alone and abandoned.  Will they be able to help her?
1. Chapter 1

Anna pounded on the locked door and cried in vain "Help! Someone please come back! Please help me!" Anna crumpled to the cold concrete floor and cried into her hands. She couldn't remember how long she had been held in the small dark room, but no one had come and delivered anything to her in what felt like days and she was tired and hungry and loosing hope that she would ever be rescued from the hell in which she was being faced to live in. She wanted out and she wanted to be free again. She succumbed to the darkness of sleep, vaguely aware that she might not wake up.

Captain Nathan Hale Bridger sat in his command chair of the SeaQuest looking out into the darken ocean floor. Routine inspection of the closed mining community was nearly complete. Checks on the all the buildings was UEO protocol when the mining shafts where to be closed.

One of the outer buildings still has it's life support and pressure systems still running. Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz informed after some silence on the bridge.

"Do you think it's being used for some type of criminal activity?" Bridger asked as he stood and peered towards the buildings.

"I wouldn't be able to confirm that sir as I have no sensors reports of any submersibles in the vicinity." Ortiz shrugged

"Should we take a look? There has been some reports of looters in the area." Commander Jonathan Ford offered.

"Permission granted, just be careful as there could still be people in the building." Bridger nodded.

"I'll make sure we take all the necessary precautions." Ford agreed and quickly left the bridge in order to assemble his team.

Anna awoke slightly, was that footsteps outside the door or was she imagining it. Her hope was short lived as she felt fear return as she thought about the men. Did they come back? Would the beatings begin again? Someone tried to open the door and it didn't open. Anna backed away into the corner of the room, trying to gain space between herself and what might come.

"Sir, this door is locked. It's the only one in the entire building." Chief Manilow Crocker commented as he played with the doors handle. Ford came to the door and tried to open it.

"Break it down." Ford suggested while he engaged his weapon as a precaution to what they might find.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Crocker smiled and kicked the door in, both men shone their flashlights into the room and as the light fell on the young girl cowering in the corner, Crocker's smile faded. "My God!" he whispered as he watched the young girl's eyes roll back into her head and she collapsed further onto the floor. Both men rushed into the room and looked down onto the girl.

"She's still breathing," Ford assured and felt for her pulse, it was shallow but steady. "We need to get her out of here."

"Agreed, let's get her back to the shuttle." Crocker picked the girl up and carried her out of the room and out to the docking area. Once they were back in the shuttle and heading back to the SeaQuest, Ford radioed ahead.

"Captain, we found a young adolescent female locked in one of the back rooms of the empty building"

"Is she alright?" Bridger asked.

"Its hard to say sir, she was conscious when we entered the room, but she is currently unconscious. We'll need a medical team at the shuttle launch when we arrive." Ford reported.

"Understood." Bridger's voice returned before they broke off communication.

Doctor Kristin Westphalen was alerted to the survivor found and she rushed to the shuttle launch just as the pressure was returning to the port. She went into the shuttle and saw the girl laying on the bench, her face gaunt, her body covered in small bruises, her hair and clothes dirty and tattered.

"She's been like that since we found her pretty much. Her face when she saw us held a mixture of fear and panic. She reminded me of some abused animal. The room she was in was no bigger than a jail cell. Something really bad has happened to this girl. Crocker shared as they were able to get her out of the shuttle. A stretcher awaited them just outside the door and Crocker rested the girl down, the medical team covered her with a blanket and rushed her towards Sickbay.

Bridger looked in through the glass window of the treatment room in Sickbay. Westphalen hovered over the girl for a few more minutes before she looked up and saw Bridger standing there. The doctor came out of the treatment room soon after and moved away from the unconscious young woman.

"How is she doing?" Bridger asked.

"As well as can be expected I suppose. She was very undernourished and dehydrated. Her vitals are weak, but she's a fighter I think. She's been through a lot, several of her ribs have been broken and healed, she has had at least one concussion, she has cuts and scars that can be dated back for at least that last six to eight months. She has been tied up in the past for long lengths of time as she has rope burns on both her wrists and ankles. I could go on." Westphalen paused.

"No, that's enough thank you."

"I've had Ortiz run a search to see if she met any of the descriptions of the mining colony. So far nothing has been found. Do you have any idea on when she will be awake?"

"It's too early to tell, her body is trying to recover from it's trauma, only time will be tell."

"So for the time being the mystery continues."

"I'm not sure, but the way Crocker mentioned the girls looks when she saw them earlier I'm trying to keep people away for the time being." Westphalen started.

"I'll try to talk to Lucas." Nathan acknowledged.

"Thank you."

"Keep me posted."

"I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

Kristin looked over the lab reports and walked over to her microscope again. The girls' blood held some interesting anomalies that Kristin hadn't seen before. The DNA sequence looked human and Kristin focused in on the few tags that she still questioned to if they were a defect or an anomaly. Kristin looked up and rubbed her eyes with her fingers, she'd have to have Nathan take a look at it with his scientific eye when he had some time. The girl was still unconscious, occasionally moving her hands or tossing her head, she had developed a low grade fever over the past few hours, and her hair matted against her face making her look more fragile and waif like then when she was brought on board. Kristin went back to her work after realizing she was staring at the girl.

A strangled gasp and some beeping of equipment alerted the small medical team that their patient had awoken and Kristin dashed over to the panicked girl. She had managed to sit up and was looking around the room with confusion, she had pulled the oxygen off and looked at it with confusion.

"It's okay.. You're safe." Kristin assured as she approached slowly not wanting to alarm her any further than necessary.

"Where am I?" The girl asked. "Who are you?"

"My name is Dr. Kristin Westphalen and you are in my sickbay aboard a ship called SeaQuest." Kristin shared. The girl looked pale and shaky as she looked around and then refocused back onto the Doctor.. "Can you tell me what your name is?"

"They called me Anna." Anna shared.

"Who are they?" Kristin probed.

"The Men…" Anna repeated.

"Do you have a last name?" Kristin asked. Anna looked confused and then frightened as she thought for a moment.

"Anna." Anna repeated… "They called me just Anna…. " Anna allowed. "Please don't send me back.." The frightened look turned frantic and the equipment monitoring Anna started to beep as the girl's heart rate started to increase quickly. Kristin noted the change and called for a sedative. She had taken hold of Anna's shoulder to help her lay back down as one of her nurses added the drug to the IV.

"You are safe Anna, no one is going to give you back I promise. Just relax and close your eyes." Kristin whispered softly, Anna gripped onto Kristin's hand and the doctor held it as the sedative took hold and the girls' eyes fluttered closed, Anna's heart rate dropped slowly back into the normal level a few minutes later and Kristin left Anna's side.

"She says that her name is Anna." Kristin told Nathan as she approached him in the corridor.

"So she's awake?" Nathan asked as they walked together.

"Briefly…" Kristin admitted. "She became quite agitated when she thought that we might give her back to her captors, I had to sedate her."

"How long now until she wakes?" Nathan asked and Kristin shrugged.

"Hard to say.. She needs to feel safe and remain calm in order for her to overcome this trauma and the girl's body isn't ready yet." Kristin sighed as the two found themselves sitting down together in the meeting room just down from the bridge.

"I don't understand… Did something else come from the tests you've run?" Nathan asked.

"Her blood work is fairly normal expect for her vitamin deficiencies, but I'm not sure how long she's been living under the ocean's surface and finding her like we did I would imagine her captors did not provide the basic nutritional supplements. Yet when I dug deeper, her DNA doesn't come back normal. She carries the same DNA sequences as human, but she also carries a few unusual RNA sequences as well." Kristin shrugged her shoulders. "Her anxiety and fear is more from her psychological abuse she has received."

"The next time she wakes, will she have the same response she had earlier?"

"I'm not sure… I'm hoping that she will remember that she is safe and perhaps we can go from there."

"Med Bay to Dr. Westphalen." The communication system chirped.

"Yes?" Kristin answered.

"Anna is awake."

"I'm on my way.." Kristin nodded and turned back to Nathan. "Maybe you'd like to come with me?

"I'll keep my distance, but yes I'd like to come." Nathan agreed.

Anna woke slowly and opened her eyes and took a deep breath. The room looked familiar, she hadn't been dreaming when she had been awake before. She sat up and kept focused on her breathing, she could hear the beeping and it remained equal and steady and she new that that was a good thing. Pulling the blankets off she shifted her body so her legs dangled over the edge of the bed. She looked down at her skin, it was clean and free from the dirt and grim it had been covered with for months. She looked at her hands and they too were clean, her nails had been trimmed and cleaned. The bruises and scars looked brighter and more pronounced on her body under the light and she felt exposed. The beeping started to speed up as she pondered her situation.

"Anna?" Anna looked up from her legs and saw the Doctor coming into the room. "How are you feeling now?"

"Tired…" Anna admitted. "You aren't't going to make me go back to sleep are you?" Anna asked as she looked at the doctor.

"As long as your vitals stay normal I promise I won't give you any more drugs unless you ask for them." Kristin nodded. Anna sighed and then looked over the doctor's shoulder and saw another man standing there, Anna quickly slid off the bed and down onto her knees, her heart racing as she bowed her head towards the man.

"Anna!" Kristin called out as she went to towards the girl. "What are you doing, are you all right?"

"I'm at your service sir…" Anna managed to get out and Kristin turned back to the man.

"Leave Nathan, now!" Anna heard the doctor order and shut the door to the room and came down to Anna's level kneeling in front of her. Anna looked up with confusion and realized that her heart was racing and her breathing was faster and her energy was well drained from the sight of another man.

"You sent him away?" Anna whispered as Kristin brushed the hair out of Anna's face and helped her stand up on her wobbly legs. "You sent him away is that wise?"

"Of course it's wise Anna, he scared you… You weren't ready to see him." Kristin told her and directed Anna back into the bed and poured a glass of water. She handed the cup to Anna who held it in her shaking hand only a moment before Kristin helped her drink some of it.

"He is in charge?" Anna asked.

"He is the Captain of this ship, but he isn't in charge of this sickbay.. I am."

"He listened to you?"

"All men listen to me." Kristin admitted and then smiled as she saw Anna's heart rate lower on it's own.

"You must be very powerful." Anna shared.

"You have been through something horrible Anna but you must know that Captain Bridger only wants to help you, as well as all the other men on this crew.."

"I am to serve the men in charge." Anna admitted. "Or I will be punished."

"You will not be punished here my child, you will not serve the men in charge or any other man for that matter. You need to feel safe, Captain Bridger is a very safe man… He will not punish you if you do serve him." Kristin assured.

"He does not expect me to answer all his needs?" Anna asked again. "I have much experience."

"I was afraid that you'd say that." Kristin sighed and Anna looked confused and then frightened while she waited for Kristin to finish her statement. "Captain Bridger wants to see you and talk with you, but he does not want anything from you my child, nothing at all."

"Then I will be sold then…" Anna whispered and bowed her head into her hands as Kristin realized that the girl was crying she gathered her in her arms and felt her heart break for this lost young soul.


	3. Chapter 3

"**It's worse than I thought." Kristin admitted to the senior staff as they gathered for a small debriefing. **

""**How so?" Jonathan asked as he looked to both the doctor and then to the captain.**

"**We've rescued a young girl who's been trapped in the underground slave network.. When her owners return to retrieve their property they will not be pleased to find out that she is missing." Kristin sighed.**

"**She's a slave?" Nathan asked again.**

"**It makes sense Nathan, the way she's frightened of being sent back, her response to you when she saw you for the first time, the comments to me as I tried to calm her down about pleasing, and her warped sense of how woman are to serve men." Kristin shared swallowed and continued. "She even alluded to her experience in pleasing men in all manners." Jonathan coughed slightly when he heard the last comment.**

"**Then when I told her that she was safe and that that type of behaviour is not expected here, she immediately thought that she was to be sold again to someone who does have those needs." Kristin paused. "The UEO has attempted to make all life on this planet equal and just, yet somehow corrupt and evil people continue to exist and cause such damage to innocent children.."**

"**We've searched the data base of missing children but nothing fitting Anna's description has been found." Jonathan admitted.**

"**How far have you gone back?" Kristin asked. **

"**How far do you think we should go back?" Jonathan countered.**

"**I would go back ten years maybe. I suspect Anna was about nine or 10 when she became a slave. Anna isn't her given name either, Anna is what the men called her." Kristin suggested. "Look for variations of Anna the name, if she was taken they may have changed her name in order to create a more submissive child.."**

"**We haven't taken into consideration that she won't be in any Data bases for missing children it's a possibility that her family sold her, or she was orphaned." Nathan finally spoke up making everyone pause to think about that tragic possibility that a family would be so desperate that they would do something so drastic. **

"**Lets keep trying. I would only hope that she was abducted and her family is still looking for her or hoping that she is somehow still alive." Kristin implored. "I'm thinking Anna is chronologically around 17 years old, although her life experience has aged her considerably."**

"**We'll keep looking.." Jonathan assured. **

"**In the mean time how are we going to treat this young girl if she's going to submit to every male staff member on this ship?" Nathan sighed. **

"**I'm hoping that we'll be able to work through some of these basic issues quickly. In the mean time she will have to be monitored by the female staff. I'll ask Lt. Commander Hitchcock if she might be available to help with Anna's transition. I am also hoping to work with her to discover some of her repressed memories. Establish a timeline of events,"**

"**We aren't scheduled for a port stop for another 2 weeks. Do you think Anna will manage?" Nathan asked.**

"**She's been through a lot in her short life. I can only imagine a few weeks with us will be a walk in the park." Kristin shrugged.**

"**Let's hope so." Jonathan returned hopefully. **

"**I really should go and talk with Lucas about this too." Nathan finished and everyone agreed. **

"**So no bowing, kneeling and asking if you can serve any man you see on this ship right?" Katherine Hitchcock shared with her new charge. Anna had recovered enough to be discharged from Sickbay and she was assigned to bunk in with Katherine. **

"**I am not to serve them." Anna returned. She looked confused and a little frightened as they prepared to leave. Anna had been given some standard issue clothes and had had her hair pulled back into a loose braid. Her large blue eyes held so much more in them than she had been able to share, yet her life remained a mystery to everyone including Anna. "I am not anyone's property anymore." **

"**Right." Katherine nodded and turned to Anna and gave her a reassuring look. **

"**Are you set to go?" Kristin asked as she came into the room.**

"**I think so." Anna admitted and Kristin smiled. **

"**You aren't going far, and the nice thing about this ship is that although it appears to be really big, I won't be too far away if you need me,"**

"**Thank you." Anna smiled softly and Kristin thought that perhaps Anna was moving forward in a good way. Everyone was a little on edge not knowing how Anna would manage her first trip into the greater ship community, but holding her in the small sickbay room wasn't going to help her anymore. The two of them started down the corridor which was thankfully empty and made there way towards the ships quarters area. As they turned up the main corridor they passed two crewmen. Katherine paused as the two men passed and watched as Anna looked down at her feet not making any eye contact but showing no attempt to hit the floor. So far so good. **

"**What is this water for?" Anna asked as they followed one of the tubes of water that followed the corridor that they walked down..**

"**It's to allow Darwin free access to the ship." Katherine shared.**

"**Who's Darwin?" Anna asked again.**

"**I'm going to leave that surprise to you to find out. I can't share all the Seaquest's secrets with you it will spoil the fun." Katherine smiled and Anna shrugged her shoulders. **

**The ship was huge, and Anna had to fight the urge to pause and give each person she saw on her travel through the ship a bow and request for help. She was exhausted by the time they had made their way to Katherine's quarters. **

"**It isn't much, but it's what I call home." Katherine shared as she opened the door. Anna was impressed with the size. "You can have the top bunk. Normally it's left up, but since you'll be staying here, I brought it down and it's pretty comfortable."**

"**If it's all right with you, I'd prefer to sleep on the floor." Anna admitted. **

"**You don't have too." Katherine assured.**

"**I'm starting to know that, but with all this moving on this ship, I feel connected with the sounds on the ship already. If I sleep on the floor, I can feel the ship and that seems to calm me down. Plus if I need to use the facilities, I won't wake you." Anna shared.**

"**You have been through too much for me to sit here and argue with you, just know that you can sleep on the bunk if you want too. I don't care. The head is through that door, I have some music and a computer here on the desk. The lights are here and here. When the mess hall has calmed down some I'll take you there too." Katherine shared. A chirping noise made Anna look around the cabin.**

"**It's the door." Katherine smiled and went to answer it. **

"**Sorry to interrupt, but the Captain needs you on the bridge." Someone shared from the corridor. **

"**Go, I'm going to be fine." Anna assured when Katherine looked torn. "I'm going to rest some anyways." **

**Katherine nodded her head and left the cabin and Anna made herself a small pallet on the floor and crawled under the blanket rested her head on the pillow and quickly fell asleep, overwhelmed with the entire experience and hoping to escape it by going to sleep.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Lucas?" Nathan called out. The young man turned his head away from the computer screen he was working at and smiled briefly and then stopped.

"I didn't do it." Lucas assured and when he saw the confused look on the Captain's face looked sheepish at possibly admitting to something that he had done.

"Didn't do what?" Nathan asked as he came closer to Lucas and pointed to the ledge of the moon pool.

"Nothing important." Lucas sat down and looked at the Captain.

"I wanted to talk with you about Anna." Nathan started.

"Is that the girl in Sickbay? The one they found over in the mining colony?" Lucas clarified.

"Yes, she's the one. Her name is Anna, and she's staying with Commander Hitchcock now."

"Can I go and see her. I heard that she isn't much older than me. Maybe I could give her a tour of the ship get to know her better." Lucas offered.

"I realize that you are just trying to help Lucas, but I want you to listen to me for a few minutes." Nathan took a deep break. "Anna is nothing like Cleo. She has been held captive by people that have made her do things that normal teenagers are not supposed to do. She has a fear of men that she needs to overcome before she could ever be a friend to you. So, I need you just to keep your distance from her for the time being." Nathan looked at Lucas and smiled while he watched the young man take in what was being said.

"I'm not going to hang out with her." Lucas looked a little disappointed.

"Not right now." Nathan agreed. "Can I trust you that you won't try? I realize you see this as a challenge, but for Anna's well being I need you to listen to what I said and comply with my orders."

"I'll keep my distance, although it will be really hard." Lucas sighed.

"Thanks Lucas, " Nathan patted the boy on the back and stood to leave.

"If it becomes okay to visit with this girl Anna, can I be the first one to see her?" Lucas asked Nathan left the room.

"I'll let you know."

"Thanks." Lucas turned back to his work.

"Oh, and I think it's time for you to go back to your own quarters. It's late." Nathan suggested and Lucas nodded.

"I will when I'm done this last test." Lucas appeased.

Anna's hands were tied to the bed making it hard to move, she struggled with the knots trying to get them untied knowing that she had angered the man who had tied her there hours before. She heard the footsteps and cringed as the door opened and the same man came into the room. Anna saw the knife glint in the dim light from the hallway. He came closer and Anna sensed that the man was now drunk. The man came closer and crawled on top of her and with the knife started to cut Anna's slip off. The cutting of fabric and the fear of him cutting her made Anna scream. Her scream stopped by strike across the face by the mans large hand. Strong hands gripped her shoulders and Anna screamed again.

"Anna!" Anna sat up quickly and cowered away from the hands that tried to hold her. Anna scrambled away from the person without realizing what she was doing stopped only by the corner she found herself trapped in. "Anna, it's okay it's Katherine. I'm not going to hurt you. You were having a nightmare." Katherine attempted to reach out to the girl.

"Please don't touch me." Anna begged as she curled herself into a tight ball as far away from her as possible.

"I'm sorry for scaring you." Katherine apologized as she found herself sitting across the floor from the scared girl. "You were crying out in your sleep." Anna waited a moment, allowing the last of the dream to seep away from her.

"I know that I'm safe here, yet the memories won't go away." Anna whispered and brushed the remaining tears out of her eyes.

"The scariest of memories are always able to find us in our sleep." Katherine returned wisely as she saw Anna start to relax. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"No," Anna returned quickly.

"You know it's early to grab something to eat in the Mess without being around too many people. Would you be interested in coming with me?" Katherine suggested, knowing that sleep would escape both of them for the rest of the night.

"Okay." Anna nodded and followed Katherine out of the cabin.

"Why is this place called the Mess?" Anna asked as they sat down at one of the tables with two steaming hot mugs of hot chocolate.

"I'm not sure, I think it has something to do with some long ago military term. It's stuck, might have something to do with the food. Sometimes when it is on the plate it looks like a mess."

"Mess or not, at least you have enough food to eat." Anna admitted and Katherine couldn't argue with that comment. "I have been hungry so much in my life that I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be comfortable with food." Anna shared.

"Anna, I couldn't imagine what you've been through, but you have to remember that that part of your life is now over. Even if we are unable to find your family, you are free. You are free to become anything that you wish to be." Katherine shared.

"I don't know what I wish to be. I wish that I could remember more about my past." Anna admitted and took a sip of the beverage and the looked at Katherine with a strange look.

"What?" Katherine asked.

"This tastes wonderful." Anna shared.

"I know. If you enjoy this Anna, you are in for a wonderful trip of all things chocolate." Katherine smiled and watched Anna take another drink from her mug.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't understand why you keep asking me all these questions!" Anna sighed out in frustration. "I don't remember! I don't remember anything much from before I served the Man in charge."

"Anna, you just didn't appear as a slave." Kristin encouraged. "You came from somewhere. You had parents. You didn't always live under the water."

"I was young when I served my first Man." Anna conceded. "Maybe 10."

"So, do you remember anything, a memory, a colour, a smell." Kristin asked and Anna sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and tried to think. The painful memories, the memories of the abuse that she had experienced continued to come to the surface blocking out the rest. Slowly she brought her fingers to her neck and she made a circle.

"I had a necklace for awhile. It wasn't given to me by anyone, I just had it." Anna started and as she traced her finger in the circle the picture of what it looked like started to become more clear. "It was green and shinny and carved into it where two white things. I can't remember what they were, fish maybe?" Anna opened her eyes and they looked sad. "The first Man finally broke it away from me when I made him angry. I never saw it again."

"That's a start Anna. Green and shinny sounds like it might be Jade, fish. Let me have someone look up some pictures on the computer and maybe we can find a picture of it." Kristin nodded with encouragement.

"The necklace can help?" Anna asked with an odd look on her face.

"Can't hurt to try." Kristin returned. Just as they had finished talking large red flashing lights started to fill the room they were in.

"What's happening?" Anna asked with concern.

"Something, nothing to worry about though my child. Just stay put in this room for a minute." Kristin assured and went out into the corridor. Anna could see people running down the corridor and all of sudden a chirping sound and people were being ordered to their stations.

"Dr. Westphalen you're presence is requested on the bridge." A loud voice came through the air.

"Stay here." Kristin ordered and left Anna sitting in the small meeting room as she watched the doctor leave the room and up the corridor through a large door that lead into what appeared the bridge. Anna bravely disobeyed Kristin and followed the woman up the corridor.

"What's going on?" Kristin asked as she came onto the bridge.

"That." Nathan pointed to the small submersible.

"They have their weapons directed at us." Jonathon Ford announced.

"Hail them! Are they crazy? Their weapons will do nothing against this ship." Nathan ordered.

"They are returning our hail."

"This is Captain Nathan Hale Bridge of the SeaQuest! Who are you and why are aiming your weapons at us?" Nathan ordered with a tone in his voice that made him sound all the Captain that he was. A crackling of sound and a voice suddenly filled the bridge.

"My name is not important, but I am sure that you have stolen my property. I would like it back." The deep voice sounded menacing and Kristin looked at Nathan.

"I told you if they could hunt her down they'd want her back." Kristin reminded.

"You're property was found near death and abandoned." Nathan returned.

"She is still alive though?" The voice asked.

"She will not be returned." Nathan assured.

"She is owned by me! I paid more than she was worth. I expect her back." The voice continued.

"I am not going back." Anna announced bravely from her spot near the back of the bridge.

"I told you stay put." Kristin told Anna.

"I am not going back and I am not anyone's property anymore." Anna repeated and turned and ran out off the bridge and down the corridor.

"You heard her." Nathan told the man on the other side of the hail. "If you continue to aim your weapons at my ship, I may be inclined to shoot some of my weapons at you. Your ship is nothing to this one and if you are wise I'd leave and not think of returning." Nathan sighed and cut off communications with the other vessel and ordered a few of their low density missiles to be powered up. It wasn't long before some movement was noticed on the other ship.

"They are powering down and turning to go." Katherine announced.

"Good. Alert UEO authorities of the make and model of the ship and tell them they are a part of the under surface slave trade. Let those fools think for now that they are safe, sometimes it's nice to have a little fun with these creeps." Nathan turned to Kristin. "I think the work you have been doing with Anna has started to pay off. Go and find her and make sure she knows that she is safe and that we are going to make sure that those men never bother her again." Kristin nodded her head and went back to the room in which she thought Anna had gone too. The room was empty, and for the first time Kristin had no idea on where the girl had gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Kristin started towards Katherine's cabin hoping that Anna had gone there and as she passed by the moon pool she looked in. The room was empty except for Anna, who sat on the edge of the moon pool with her hands in the water. She leaned forward and placed her face into the water as she saw Darwin coming into the main pool area. Kristin watched as Darwin went directly to Anna and pushed Anna's face out of the water by her chin and started to chatter excitedly and Anna smiled brightly for the first time since she had been on board. Kristin watched as Darwin's chatter was quieted by the magical sound of Anna's laughter as she softly but lovingly put her hand over Darwin's nose to silence the creature.

"Anna." Kristin came into the room and Anna looked up.

"He says that you have named him Darwin. Although that is not his true name. Darwin claims that I have already met him when he was younger. I don't remember meeting him before, but I don't remember much from my past. The fact that I understand him makes me believe him." Anna shared.

"His vo corder is off! How do you know he's saying that!" Lucas asked suddenly out of the back corner of the room. Kristin quickly turned to see how Anna would respond to this young man. Anna looked panicked for a moment and then Darwin playfully splashed Anna and chattered something and Anna laughed again and became calm.

"I just did." Anna responded. "Did you want to ask him yourself with your vo corder?" Anna's entire posture had changed in what appeared to be right in front of Kristin's eyes. Lucas quickly went over to shelf and pulled a handheld machine off the shelf and turned it on. Quickly all the clicks and chatter that Darwin had been doing sprang to action into words that Lucas and Kristin could understand.

"New old friend." Darwin shared. "From the warm lagoons."

"You've met Anna before?" Kristin asked the dolphine.

"Young girl yes." Darwin continued.

"Do you remember what warm lagoon?" Kristin pressed.

"I think so." Darwin nodded.

"You can show me where I came from?" Anna asked in surprise. "I have family?"

"Many people." Darwin assured and Anna laid her hand onto the water and Darwin played with the hand for a moment before laughing and swimming away.

"Lucas this is Anna. Anna, you appear to be handling this young man rather well, would you like to stay here in the moon pool. I need to go and do a bit of research."

"I will stay with Lucas." Anna agreed. "I would much like to swim with Darwin if that is okay?" Anna turned back to Lucas who looked startled by the request but couldn't really say anything to deny the girl considering she understood dolphin.

* * *

"It makes complete sense." Kristin shared with excited hands and actions as she pulled Nathan into her lab. "The markers on her DNA, they are Nihplod." Kristin pulled up the markers and they matched perfectly. "Anna is part of the rare community of Nihplod. They historically are a very reclusive group of people who have often been referred to as mermaids in our folklore. As they had been swimming in the oceans near sailing ships. Yet they aren't mermaids, only people that have developed a connection with the ocean and the creatures that swim in it. They have highly developed brains that allow them to connect with mammals like dolphins and whales and understand their sonar and are able to sense what they are thinking and understand their swimming motions and body language. They are also amazing swimmers with the ability to swim under water for great distances due to their genetically overdeveloped lung capacity."

"They aren't telepathic?" Nathan asked,

"No just highly sensitive. They are unable to read thoughts of others. I'm sure that is why Anna can't remember, her brain has closed off that side so she would be able to survive living so far away from her community and protect her while she suffered."

"So her memories are still there?" Nathan asked again having some difficulties in understanding everything that Kristin was telling her.

"Oh I'm sure they are, they just need to be encouraged to come out. I'm not sure if her community members would have sent out a missing persons or not. Now that I know how to look, maybe we can find out more about Anna before we return her to home."

"It couldn't hurt to look, but now that we know so much more about her people, we can return her and they can help her." Nathan reminded.

"Anna needs to know what we can find out, she's already been through so much she should have an idea on who she is." Kristin insisted and Nathan nodded.

* * *

"So my father is still alive?" Anna asked quietly as she took in all the information that had just been given to her. "Yet you say my mother is dead?"

"You and your mother were out on an annual trip to the Dolphin breeding area. Apparently you did not return at the reported time and a search party went out. The boat you were in was found adrift with your mother near death still in the boat, she had been badly beaten. She was able to tell the others that you had been stolen before she died." Kristin shared.

"So I was taken by them when I was nine?"

"You've been held captive for 8 years." Kristin allowed.

"Yet, my father still wants me?" Anna asked.

"He is very excited and so are your siblings and your family. They await your return." Kristin smiled and with tears in her eyes shared something with Anna that would mean even more. "Your name Anna, the name the men gave you wasn't too far off the mark of your real name. According to your father, your name is actually Solana."

"Of course it is." Solana agreed and with a deep breath she took Kristin's hand. "It sounds like a name someone who has been loved by others would have wouldn't it."

"Yes, yes it is."

* * *

The sun shone so brightly that it caused Solana a moment to take a deep breath. The entire community had come to meet her on the beach. Solana turned back to her rescuers.

"I owe you all my life. I don't know how to thank you all." Solana went to each of the members of the crew that had accompanied her to the shore. Nathan couldn't get over the transformation of the young girl. As SeaQuest had gotten closer to the surface and to the islands that she had been born on, Solana no longer looked terrified when she came into the presence of men, she smiled more and her laughter had such a magical tone to it, everyone just wanted to be near her to hear it. Darwin splashed in the shallow water alongside several other dolphins that had come near.

"We are just happy that we have been able to return you to your family. We wish you the best and joyful future."

"I will never forget you all. You will be in my heart forever." Solana then turned back to her people and as they made landfall. A man came forward from the group and Solana new right away it was her father. As he came closer Solana noticed that he carried a necklace to wrap around his daughters neck. A jade medallion with two dolphins crossing each other at the top.

"Come, join us. We have prepared food and celebration for the return of the one we thought lost." Solana's father called out as he wrapped his arms around his daughter. The road of recovery would be long, but with the help of her family she would overcome it and she would forever be indebted to the crew of the SeaQuest for helping to return her freedom.

* * *

**Thank you for all the feedback and support, your suggestions and comments have really encouraged me to continue to write. Thanks again!**


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